Eye for an Eye (Take a Chance Book 2) Read online

  “No, no, nothing like that. I, um, I…”

  “Lily,” he growls softly.

  “I’m pregnant,” she blurts out, and I turn to Reid, grinning.

  He points to his chest, mouthing, “Best Uncle.”

  I shake my head. If anyone gets that title, it’s me. The kid will love me. Fuck the Carters. They have enough members in their family. Our niece or nephew will be all ours.

  “Jaxon, please, say something,” Lily pleads, her voice wobbly.

  I tense, hoping my brother isn’t crazy enough to fuck this up. He’s wanted Lily most of his life and now he’s finally got her. And it wasn’t easy for them to get to where they are. And if there’s one thing I know for sure when it comes to my brother, it’s that he wants kids. Always has. He practically helped raise all of us after Dad died, and that proves what a good dad he will be. No other fucker could control us.

  “You’re pregnant?” he whispers, his voice choked with emotion, and for the first time, I feel like I’m intruding.

  Still, we might as well stay for the rest.

  “Yes,” she whispers back, sounding teary.

  “I’m going to be a dad?”

  She sniffles. “Yes.”

  “You’re going to be a mum?”

  “Yes,” she repeats.

  “We’re having a baby,” he tells her, then I hear a shuffle, before Lily lets out a startled yelp.

  “Jaxon, I’m still feeling sick,” she warns, laughter in her tone.

  “Oh right, yes. There’s really a baby inside there?” he asks.

  Lily bursts out crying, and I tense, hoping everything is okay.

  “I’m so happy, Jaxon. You make me happy. I could have gone my whole life alone, Jaxon, with no one to call mine, and I would have been okay. Happy. But being with you, this baby… I’m bursting with it. I’m so happy I could explode, and it’s because of you, because you love me, and I love you. I’m scared it’s going to go away. I’m scared I’ll lose you, lose what we have.”

  “Hey, princess, you’ll never lose me. Ever. I’m here now and always. And you need to trust what we have, that our future together will be solid. We’re solid. I love you, Lily Hayes, then, now and always.”

  “I love you too,” she tells him softly. “I’m so silly.”

  “What? Why?” he asks.

  “I let you go. I nearly lost you,” she whispers.

  “Hey, you didn’t. I would never have let you. I was always going to make you mine.”

  “When I took the test, my heart stopped when I saw the positive sign. If you hadn’t come back for me on New Year, I wouldn’t be your wife. I wouldn’t be carrying your child.”

  “Yes, you would,” he tells her fiercely. “This was always meant to be.”

  A sob slips past her lips. “I love you.”

  “Love you too, princess.”

  Reid wipes an imaginary tear from his eye, but it’s a show. I can see he’s feeling the exact same as me. He’s happy for them. Happy for our brother. He can pretend to be a playboy, pretend he only cares about getting his dick wet, but neither of us can pretend that we don’t want what our eldest brother has, what our mum and dad had.

  We might be young, might still want to have fun, but it would stop the minute we found the right woman, the one we breathed for, were meant for.

  It doesn’t mean we’ll stop having fun until then, I muse.

  My brows furrow when the sound of glass smashing echoes through the house, along with a light bang. With one look at Reid, we pivot on our heels, not caring that Jaxon and Lily will know we were listening, and begin running through the maze of hallways until we reach the library. We rush to the window.

  What I see has me sucking in a breath. On the green outside the front, and on the stoned driveway, are a group of kids on bikes, their hoods up and black bandannas covering their faces. Some have bats shoved behind their backs, kept in rucksacks. What’s worrying are the dozens of bottles with rags hanging out the stem, liquid spilling as the kids pick them out of their pockets and bags.

  “Fuck!” I mutter, sharing a wide-eyed look with Reid.

  “Jaxon,” Lily whispers, staring at the mayhem outside, “is that Tim?”

  I glance to where she’s pointing and see Tim lying on the ground out cold beside the van, blood dripping from his temple.

  “Fuck. They’ve petrol-bombed the house,” Reid growls, just as half of the group peddle off on their bikes, heading around the side of the house.

  “Jaxon,” Lily whispers, her breathing heavy as she clutches her stomach. Her frantic gaze goes from the window to Jaxon, blood draining from her face.

  Smoke begins to rise over the window, fire crackling, but the sound of more glass breaking distracts us. They aren’t finished, whoever they are.

  My theory is confirmed when I hear windows smashing once again, this time at the back of the house. I tense, reaching for my phone.

  “We need to get out of here,” I snap, dialling nine-nine-nine.

  “How? There’s no fucking way we can walk out the front door,” Jaxon growls, holding Lily against his chest, his jaw clenched.

  I list off the address to the call operator, not having time for her to put me through to anyone.

  “The house is on fire. We are stuck on the second floor with no way out. There’s a group of kids outside, maybe twenty or so with bats and petrol bombs. This is not a false call.”

  I end the call, hating the helpless look in my brother’s eyes. He’s holding Lily like his life depends on it, and she’s pressed up against him just as tight, clutching his T-shirt.

  “What about the tunnel?” Reid mentions.

  “There is no fucking tunnel,” Jaxon growls, clenching his fists. The only thing stopping him from laying into Reid is Lily. She whimpers, tears streaming down her face, and he pulls her closer as smoke begins to flow into the room.

  “Yes, there is,” I tell him, reaching for the bookshelf and pulling it open. “But it could mean we will be trapped below the house whilst it’s on fire.”

  “There was another set of stairs in the hidden room,” Reid reminds me, as he shuts the main door, moving the boxes away from it.

  “Yeah, but we don’t know where that leads. It could be a dead end. What if we go down them and get buried alive,” I tell him, ripping the curtains down and shoving them against the bottom of the door, stopping the smoke from coming in.

  “I’ll jump out the fucking window,” Jaxon snaps, letting go of Lily and moving towards the window.

  Lily screams, reaching for him, but her fingers slip through his shirt. “No, Jaxon. No!”

  I grab Jaxon before he can do anything stupid.

  “Look, Jaxon. Look outside. They’re waiting for us to do just that,” I yell in his face, the roaring of the fire getting closer.

  “Don’t leave me,” Lily pleads, and he steps over to her, pulling her against his chest.

  Fear etches his features as his stormy gaze turns on me, his jaw hard.

  “We need to get her out of here,” he warns me, his voice breaking. “She’s—”

  “We heard,” I tell him, giving him a forced smile. “We’ll congratulate you after. Right now, we need a plan.”

  “I’ll jump out the window,” Reid offers, shrugging when we narrow our eyes at him. “I don’t have anything to lose and I’m pretty sure I can keep them distracted whilst you escape downstairs without risking one of them hurting you.”

  “Even if you could, you’d probably break your neck,” I bite out, trying to remain calm. “And even if we let you, Lily wouldn’t get down safely. It’s too high up.”

  “I’d rather her be alive than burnt alive,” Jaxon snaps, causing Lily to whimper.

  “The baby,” she rasps.

  Jaxon cups her face. “Let’s get you safe first, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispers, coughing as smoke begins to move past the curtains shoved under the door.

  “I’ll back the truck up to the window. You
can jump down from there. It’s high enough it won’t be too far. I’m not burning alive. I’m not letting you guys burn alive,” Reid yells, pacing in front of us, fear blazing in his eyes.

  “We won’t,” I snap, closing my eyes for a minute, needing to think. “Wait, call Maddox.”

  “What the fuck is that food stealing prick going to do?” Reid barks.

  Jaxon sighs, reaching for his phone. “He has the blueprints to the house. He can tell us where the tunnels lead and if they’re safe.”

  “If they’re not, I’m jumping out that window,” he snaps, just as one of the bottles smashes into the room next to us.

  CHAPTER THREE

  EVIE

  I can’t keep my eyes from drifting to the soft-hearted, blonde bombshell standing in front of my desk, tapping her foot anxiously on the wooden flooring.

  I met Lily Hayes a few times before today, but only at the end of a shift, never in the middle of a day, and definitely not without Jaxon. I don’t think it’s because they are newlyweds either.

  The fact she’s married to Jaxon, who is completely different to her, surprised me at first. She is soft-spoken, shy and incredibly kind. Jaxon isn’t.

  If I had to pair the beautiful, kind woman with someone, Jaxon wouldn’t even be on the list of potentials. Except, I have seen them together, and I know there is no one else on this earth who was made for her, and the same with him. They are the definition of couple goals, and I wish them many years of happiness.

  I finish scribbling down the address to where Jaxon is working at the moment, handing it over to her. She doesn’t seem herself today; jumpy—anxious.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask the paled-faced woman.

  She jumps, stepping back as her hand with the note in shakes. “I’m okay. I just really need to see Jaxon and his phone isn’t on, or maybe he’s lost signal,” she explains, forcing a smile. “Thank you again, Evie.”

  “You’re most welcome,” I tell her, watching her leave in a rush, the keys to her car already in her other hand.

  I bite my bottom lip worriedly, wondering if I should follow her and offer to give her a ride.

  Reaching over the desk, I pick up the phone, wanting to see if I can get in touch with Jaxon myself, knowing he’ll want to know about his wife. That, and I’m worried she won’t make it there safely. However, as I press the first number, my mobile begins to blare with a bell chime, and I rest the phone back down on the receiver.

  My blood runs cold as I glance down at my mobile, knowing exactly who is ringing me.

  It’s the same every day, which is why I know the person won’t give up. And later, when I finally wind down from my day, I will receive a text message. It’s the same day in, day out. And soon, if I don’t give him what he wants, he will visit, and that is something I really don’t want or need in my life.

  It stops ringing and I relax back into my chair, brushing the hair out of my face with my fingers.

  When it begins to ring again, I want to smash it against the wall. And I would if I didn’t need it. Instead of doing what my irrational mind is roaring at me to do, even though I know it will only bring me a moment of satisfaction, I opt to slide it away from me.

  I close my eyes, dropping my face into my hands, my elbows resting on the desk. Right now, I feel like the world is weighing me down. Whenever I see a way out of the mess I’m in, I’m pulled back in. Always. But this is bigger than me, and right now everything depends on me keeping this job. If I lose it, I dread to think what will happen. I have no one to help pick me up. Like always, I can only rely on myself. Even my best friend, Rebecca, can’t help me with this.

  I really enjoy working here too. I was wary at first—rumours weren’t kind to the Hayes family. Yes, they are wild and outspoken, and yes, they do fight and argue a lot, but it’s never done in hatred or in true anger. They are just comfortable enough amongst one another to express themselves.

  What I love most is their deep sense of family and loyalty. They dote on their sister, and Jaxon’s wife. And I’ve even seen them with their mother. They not only love her but respect her. They fall in line and listen whenever she’s about.

  I’ve never had that.

  I never got the chance.

  It was always just me and my mum, and I was okay with that. But seeing the way they are with each other makes me feel like I missed out on so much.

  My phone begins to ring again, and I groan into my hands. He’s persistent, I’ll give him that.

  “Are you not going to answer that?” Paisley asks, and I lift my head, a high-pitched squeal escaping my lips.

  I didn’t hear her come in, or Landon, who is leaning against the doorframe, looking broody as always.

  She reaches for my phone and turns it over on the table. The blood drains from my face and I lean over the desk, snatching it from her grasp.

  “That’s okay. They’ll call back,” I rush out, clicking it to silent before throwing it in my drawer. Embarrassment floods my cheeks and I look away from Paisley’s curious and hurt gaze.

  When I brave a glance in her direction, I see she’s sharing a look with Landon, who squeezes her hand before relaxing it again. Shame fills me when I realise I was too rough with her.

  “Um, okay,” she murmurs, trying to force a smile.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t like taking personal calls during work hours.”

  She waves me off. “My brothers won’t care. They’re just happy they don’t have to do much desk duty.”

  I force out a smile. “I’ll run it by them first. It’s no one important anyway.”

  “Are you ready?”

  “Ready?” I ask, scrunching my nose up.

  Laughing, she steps towards me, grabbing my coat off the back of my chair. “For lunch, silly. Hayden, Charlotte and Hope are on the way.”

  I force another smile, nodding. I completely forgot about the lunch I promised her this morning. I desperately want to get to know her—she seems nice, and not like the girls I grew up with. I have one friend, Rebecca, in my life, and she’s forever telling me I need to let people in.

  Paisley is easily someone I could become friends with. She’s funny and kind. But as always, life knows when to throw shit at me. I can’t get close to the girl, even if she does make it difficult to keep her at a distance. I have to find a balance because there is no way I can risk her or her brothers getting close. It isn’t on the cards. They’d hate the real me.

  The thought brings a wave of sadness through me. I want them to like the real me, not who everyone believes I am.

  My thoughts drift to Wyatt, and my chest tightens. Would he think the worst, or would he keep bringing me sweets each morning and fill up the glass bowl I bought at a charity shop in town?

  I won’t admit this to him, but I secretly love that he brings me cups of coffee or tea without asking if I want one first. It’s like he just knows. Or when he thinks I’m not paying attention, and I feel his gaze on me. Every time it feels like he’s unknowingly chipping away at the walls I’ve built around my heart.

  Wyatt is incredibly thoughtful, and kind, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that he sleeps around a lot. His brothers aren’t shy around me, and they talk freely about Wyatt’s encounters, and their own. My stomach sinks each time Wyatt’s name is brought up.

  I smile once again at Paisley, pushing thoughts of Wyatt aside. “I’m ready.”

  “Hey, what was Lily here for?” Landon asks, glancing up from his phone.

  He looks angry, but he could be worried. It’s hard to tell with him since he doesn’t smile much. I’ve come to learn that he only smiles for Paisley or when he’s taunting one of the Hayes brothers.

  “She said she needed to find Jaxon. She couldn’t get a hold of him, so I gave her the address of where he’s working today.”

  “Did you do or say something to her? She looked freaked and didn’t stop to talk to me when I waved the car down outside the bed and breakfast.”

  “La
ndon,” Paisley scolds, forcing a smile when she turns to me. “Sorry about his rudeness.”

  “It’s okay,” I tell her, before addressing Landon. “And no. I gave her the address she asked for. She looked pale, so I asked if everything was okay. She assured me it was. That’s everything that happened.”

  He ducks his head down at Paisley. “I’m gonna try to call her again. If she doesn’t answer I’ll see if Maddox has spoken to her,” he tells her, rubbing the back of his neck. “In fact, I’ll go see Maddox now. She’ll speak to him if something is wrong. Not me. I’ll meet you back at the bed and breakfast.”

  She leans up, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “Okay. I hope she’s okay.”

  He walks out as I lift my bag over my shoulder. “Did I do something wrong? He seems really worried about her.”

  “No, you didn’t. They’re really protective of Lily. Her story is complicated and not mine to share. Maddox is like her best friend, even though they’re cousins, so if anyone knows what’s wrong with her, he will.”

  “Okay, good. I hope she’s okay. I did hear Jaxon say she was feeling unwell when he came in this morning.”

  “That could be it,” she tells me, waiting for me to lock up the office.

  We head up the road that leads to the bed and breakfast. The scenery is beautiful, and the land is huge, going on for miles.

  I would love to wake up each morning to this view. There is no noise here, only a few cars here and there in the distance. It’s peaceful, even when their mum has someone working on the farm.

  Although the warehouse and the main home are close, they aren’t as close to the bed and breakfast, which unfortunately means we have to walk ten minutes before reaching it.

  A group of three girls are waiting outside in a huddle, all beautiful in their own way. One has pale skin, bright, fiery red hair, and the most gorgeous eyelashes I have ever seen on a person. The other is dressed how I wish I could dress. She has on dark-threaded, ripped jeans with a crop top that has a middle finger emoji printed in large on the front. The last woman is wearing a nurse’s uniform, a company logo printed on the breast pocket.